Printers are common peripheral devices attached to computers. A printer allows a computer user to make a hard copy of documents that are created in a variety of applications and programs on a computer. To function properly, a channel of communication is established (e.g., via a network connection) between the printer and the computer to enable the printer to receive commands and information from the host computer. Once a connection is established between a computer and the printer, printing software is implemented at a print server to manage a print job through the complete printing process.
Often, print jobs are produced by combining document data with forms data (e.g. text, graphics and images) that exist on a pre-printed medium (e.g., paper). However, pre-printed forms are costly and cumbersome. Particularly, printer users struggle with the cost and logistics of specifying, purchasing, storing, moving and controlling large volumes of pre-printed forms.
Conventional electronic solutions include simple insertion of an overlay into print job pages without regard to the specifics of the print job file. This may result in improper mixing (e.g., the forms overlay may cover page content) or undesired offsets of the overlay. Further, the introduction of overlays may compromise advanced automatic document feeder (ADF) functions (e.g., mailpiece sortation, co-mingling, and flex print).
Accordingly, a mechanism for an electronic implementation of pre-printed overlays without compromising print job quality and printer functions is desired.